Historic Liberty ballroom to be demolished
Use as concert venue also ruled out
THE historic Liberty ballroom is to be demolished, the owners announced on Wednesday (March 9).
The ballroom and adjoining sports hall, at Greenham Business Park, were closed in December by owner the Greenham Common Trust after the operators surrendered their licence.
Protesters raised a 1,328-signature petition against the closure and challenged the trust’s estimation that it would cost £500,000 to upgrade and repair the building.
In a statement yesterday, the trust’s chief executive, Chris Boulton, confirmed a decision had been taken to demolish the building.
He said: “In view of the substantial financial support the operation of the building has received over the years and the need for significant repairs without any prospect of a reasonable, if any, return, the decision has been made to demolish the building to allow for commercial use.
“This will, of course, lead to the creation of rental revenues which will go towards the trust’s charitable giving in West Berkshire and North Hampshire which is much needed in the current climate.”
The trust had supported alternative dancing venues, at both Hermitage Village Hall and Kingsclere’s Fieldgate Centre, and would consider positively other requests for support, at other venues.
Mr Boulton said: “With regard to the dancefloor, this will be offered free as a donation from the trust to any organisation or venue that can remove it at their cost.”
The trust’s decision followed a meeting on Monday at the business park, which was attended by Mr Boulton, trust estates manager Rupert Holtby and campaigners Adam Padwick, Karen Pearce and Les Farr.
Mr Padwick presented a business plan – for a one-year trial period – to run the ballroom as a community venue, outlining a likely revenue of £3,000 per month, with a year’s free rent.
Mr Boulton described the business plan as “relatively vague”, and added that the prospective £3,000 income per month was a significant shortfall.
He added: “In effect you are asking the trust to shoulder the risk and that’s not what we do.
“If we subsidise it for two years and it has not worked, that’s £400,000 spent over the last seven years and that could have gone into the community.”
The trust also ruled out the possibility of utilising the ballroom as a concert venue.
The ballroom was a popular fixture of the former American airbase and regularly attracted top acts during its heyday, such as The Four Tops and Roy Orbison.
Regular ballroom users in recent years have included mainly Ceroc Newbury, along with Rock and Roll and 60s and 70s nights.
